Some Final Concepts

Some Final Concepts, originally uploaded by fourfirefoxes.

Final Design Sketches and Concepts



Concepts were the results of some triggeres that were

Design Ideas:



1.Design Ideas-Brainstorming!

2.Accounting in the meter for the driver to set himself targets and meet them

3.Portable meter (He should be able to carry it home)

4.Advertising on the meter, for a additional income

5.Meter cost can be sponsored by ads, making the meter free of cost for

the driver

6.Driver based usage account (Login system), customizable

7.Should accept credit cards

8.Can support electronic money transfer

9.Should give location specific info (traffic, nearby restaurants,

respective ads…

10.Entertainment for passengers

11.Continuous feedback for the passenger on the journey

12.Can the meter turn itself on when the passenger boards

13.Vigilance to help police

14.Scanning of passenger’s goods, driver’s uniform

15.Attractive displays/visuals

16.Data mine location/time/day of where passengers can be found (capture

when the meter is started…)

17.Make hot spots near stands where taxis can be alerted within a radius

18.Customizability (physical) skinning of meters

19.Keep records of passengers and travels as a means of building

relationships between passengers & drivers

20.Make taximeters as a PCO phone

21.Emergency buttons to call in time of accidents…

22.Inbuilt planner/scheduler to keep track of advanced bookings

23.Inbuilt maps

24.WiFi like connectivity between taxis

25.Make meter, passenger specific (RFID incorporated)

26.‘Prepaid travel cards’ for the meters where, the fare charging is done

on swipe on boarding and leaving

27.Customized fares

28.Keeping account of fueling

29.Money scanner

30.Electronic and mechanical modes of operation in case of failure

31.Every taxi is a post man/box

32.Vending of sweets, stamps on the taxi

33.Provision of getting messages from agencies and home

34.Virtual postage boards

35.Quote-a-fare (an estimate), to know fore-hand if one can afford the

journey

36.Automatic braking in the event of a collision

37.Electronic documentation of licenses, permits, PUC, insurance…

38.Hypothecation of the taxi/meter by banks to eliminate middlemen

39.Multipart meters

40.Take photographs of passengers, to use for security and accounting and

playback for owner

41.Plug-in and play your own content, download your own content

42.Mobile phone charger

43.Meter can keep records of past performance of the driver for

hypothecation and finance planning…

44.Help maintenance of part indicating failure, wear and tear

45.Take pictures and videos and sell them to passengers…burn it on a disc,

printout

46.Meter should show current vehicle speed to the passenger

47.Meter can give discounts on fare to encourage competition

48.Multi-lingual meters

49.Catch cops taking bribes on camera and take authentic pictures of

accidents

50.Luggage charges

51.Give control of the camera to the passenger (to take pictures of famous

place on the way…)

52.Meter can show estimated time of arrival (ETA), like a progress bar

53.‘Unlimited travel’ scheme on prepaid card (day card, week card, monthly…)

54.Proximity sensing to avoid collision

55.Method to trace lost and found belongings

56.Alert the availability of food & refreshments en route

57.Store contact details (phone no) of the passenger in case of lost and

found items

58.Finding a place in a map

59.Difference in Meter On and Meter Off. All additional revenue channels

put off when meter off to encourage the driver to put on the meter

60.Meter should be able to communicate the emotion of the driver

61.Memory space where people can upload and share data

62.Visitors book in the default mode

63.Taxis as delivery persons to get things for passengers

64.News as a scroller bar on the taxi

65.Discounts on familiar routes preferable to the driver

66.Wake up alarm in meter

67.Driving guidance for the driver

68.Print bills could be used for advertisements

69.Cinema information in the meter, also allowing for booking tickets

70.WiFi system, which enables taxi drivers to communicate (meet for

lunch), passing on of passenger

71.Pairing up of frequent passengers and drivers on the same route

72.Enable a city wide share taxi. Co-ordination between passengers to

share a taxi

73. Show the drivers driving experience, driver rating. (Good drivers can

charge more )

74.Central server calculation of fare (tamper proof)

75.Tag two autos to synchronize the journey

76.Past experience could be used to charge in case of meter failure

77.Payment through card can eliminate driver cheating the passenger

78.Record lane cutting, signal jumping, etc and use that for driver rating

79.Profile of journey and passengers for customized journey. (Speed,

economy, tourist, etc)

80.Advance booking

81.Buy train tickets in the auto meter

82.Health of the driver should be tracked

83.Meter and vehicle identity should match (security)

84.“Mumbai darshan“ tourist package, prefixed fare.

85.Locate a taxi and negotiate a rate to fix a fare

86.Luggage fare should be transparent, based on the weight

87.In case of shared taxi, meter should display individual fares based on

where people get down

88.Multiplayer games between taxis

89.Discount while fueling for the passenger

90.Rating of the taxi based on the condition and history of violation(Well

maintained taxis can charge more)

91.Deluxe comfort available in ordinary taxi.(towels,tea,wash etc)

92.Informing drivers about the availability of passengers, and average

chargers, ability to plan which time of the day to work etc

93.Dos and Donts for new drivers on car maintenance, driving etc

94.New passengers should not get cheated

95.Default operations should be very simple and easy to do for anyone

96.Banks can charge flexible EDI(Equated daily installment) instead of EMI

97.Change of routes should be updated depending on conditions

98.Remote braking for enforcement authorities

99.Flashing lights on the meter for attracting passengers

100.Union can actually work and help the drivers

101.Automated streamlined way of paying fine, automatic deduction of money

102.Instead of deducting money for a fine provide a free journey to needy

passengers

Day8-22nd July >>Presentations & Documents<<

Day8-22nd July >>Presentations & Documents, originally uploaded by fourfirefoxes.

Today we tried to setup a video link with friends at Copenhagen

Business School, Denmark...Due to unpredictable bandwidth, we had to

resort to transfering the files after shooting the presentation first



Here are the Presentation Videos

http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/~anirudha/ahci/part1.MP4 (123 MB)

http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/~anirudha/ahci/part2.MP4 (57 MB)

(3 more parts to come!)



More videos:

http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/~anirudha/ahci/part3.MP4 (199 MB)

http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/~anirudha/ahci/part4.MP4 (31 MB)

http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/~anirudha/ahci/part5.MP4 (64 MB)

http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/~anirudha/ahci/part6.MP4 (27 MB)

The video gets choppy towards the end because we had battery trouble.



Other docs are at

http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/~anirudha/ahci/Process.doc

http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/~anirudha/ahci/affinity.JPG

http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/~anirudha/ahci/affinity.ppt

http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/~anirudha/ahci/cultural.JPG



If you have trouble downloading the ppt, try this

http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/~anirudha/ahci/affinity.zip



Meanwhile, we will try to reschedule the

live feedback sessions.

Day8-21st July

Day8-21st July, originally uploaded by fourfirefoxes.

*Day8-21st July*



Finished the affinity model after a long day and short span of the morning

of the next day!

Day 7- 20th July

Day 7- 20th July, originally uploaded by fourfirefoxes.

*Day 7- 20th July*



Shahid and Susheel went and met the RTO official Mr. Pednekar



Finished all the interpretations and started with the affinity model and

model consolidation.

Day 6 -19th July

Day 6 -19th July, originally uploaded by fourfirefoxes.

*Day6-19th July*



Mooshir and Vimal went to the RTO (Regional Transport Office) at Wadala to

meet an official who was not available. So they interviewed another rickshaw

driver who was there to get his passing done, which is done annually. Anil

Sharma wanted to be junior artist in Bollywood but ended-up driving

autorickshaws for the last 15 years.



*Top Insights*



- Most of the drivers don't know to write English, while the forms are

in English

- As the autorickshaws are open vehicles theft of fixtures are common

- Traffic Police bully and fine drivers that are not from the same

area

- Lack of small change results in the driver loosing a few bucks



Saikat, Uttaran and John went to Victoria Terminus and Church Gate

stations. They first met a passenger who regularly (twice a week) travels by

taxi to and from the railway station. We also met two students who had come

to Bombay for the first time and had some interesting experiences to share.



*Top Insights*



- Only gets into a metered cab

- Takes a cab rather than a bus for the luggage

- They trust the meter and not the driver

- The passenger may not be aware of being cheated when new to the

place

- First timer have a need to know routes and destinations



Susheel and Shahid interviewed a passenger who uses a group of known taxi

drivers to take only his goods to his stationary shop. A lot of trust is

built between the driver and the passenger in this case as there is no one

who goes with the goods and the driver delivers the goods right at his shop.



*Top Insights*



Regular passengers and taxi drivers develop lot of trust between them



Taxi drivers can get some extra fare while taking co-passengers



A long journey can be boring for the passenger



Drivers tend to take advantage of the passenger's predicament

Day5-18th July

Day5-18th July, originally uploaded by fourfirefoxes.

Day5-18th July



More Interpretation of the remaining interviews



Focus



- Do passengers prefer rickshaws from stands? Have the drivers ever

cheated them? If yes then how? When do passengers prefer prefixed amount and

why?



- What do drivers do to get more passengers? What do drivers do when

they find something left over by the passengers? What is the procedure for

RTO passing? Why don't drivers join the union even when they offer benefits?

What do they do to attract passengers?

Day4-15th July

Day4-15th July, originally uploaded by fourfirefoxes.

*Day4-15th July*



Interpretation led to more insights in the form of:



Driving for hire is taken as a temporary job. There are those who have done

a lot of other job and have at last taken this up. Then there are those who

have taken up driving as their first job. There are a lot of trust issues

that the system lacks to address. But the meter also acts, as a trust factor

the passenger may not trust the driver but trusts the meter.

Day3-14th July

Day3-14th July, originally uploaded by fourfirefoxes.

*Day3-14th July*



With an extended focus in mind we went into 3 groups



We (Vimal, Uttaran and Mooshir) went to Hiranandani Gardens, an affluent

locale near Powai, quite close to our campus. There we interviewed two

autorickshaw drivers who were quite a contrast. One was Sudesh, just 10 days

as a driver; and the other was Om Prakash Pandey who has been driving his

autorickshaw for about 5 years.



*Top Insights*



- Driving is often considered a temporary job

- Driving gives him a way to 'bring home the bacon' daily

- Novice drivers often forget to put on the meter



Saikat met a driver in the campus who was on his way to Thane, a suburb of

Bombay. Indrajeet is from West Bengal (another state) and has been in Bombay

for the past 5 years with his family which is a joint family including his

brother's. He came to be come a taxi driver after having done many other

jobs.



*Top Insights*



- Meters could be tampered with easily and gotten away with

- Government regulates the number of taxis by the issue of badges

- Regular clients contact the driver through mobile

- Self owned Taxi business offers more freedom than any other service



Shahid and Susheel went to Kanjur Marg railway station and met Motiram who

had been driving his autorickshaw for 15 years. He was very open to share

the intricacies and the hardships of his work. His family members work in a

cottage industry, making 'papad' to support themselves. One of his sons is

handicapped. He finds it more sensible to buy vegetables for Rs.10 than to

buy snacks. He was skeptical about card system of payment. Earns Rs.350 per

day. He doesn't have lunch, daily.



*Top Insights*



- Lost and found items have no means to be returned

- Lack of employment opportunities leads to taking up driving even at

a later stage in life

- Rickshaw is not considered safe by the drivers to keep valuable

documents

- There is no accountability of the rickshaws at the stands

P7120093.JPG

P7120093.JPG, originally uploaded by fourfirefoxes.

*Day2-13th July*



*Interpretation and Extended focus from top Insights*



* *



- Many taxis are rented out to the driver by an owner.

- Meters are of different types, and both mechanical and electronic.

- Drivers frequent certain areas to pick-up passengers.



Focus



Stage 2



* *



- How does the exchange of taxi happen between the owner and the

driver? How is the fuel managed between the owner and the driver? What are

the different types of meters, who decides which one to use and why? Demand

and supply of the service of taxi and its implications?



- What are the concerns of the owner for the taxi usage and the

accountability of the driver?* *

Day1-12th July
We split into two teams; team one went to Dadar Railway Station, and the other to Victoria Terminus Railway Station. Both these station are the busiest in Bombay.
Team One:
At Dadar we encountered a long queue of Taxis that waited for passengers right outside the station. We went to the end of the queue so as to spend more time talking to the drivers before their turn come.
Two major interviews were done of:

Umesh,23, Satara, Bachelor. Had started driving just two months back

Top Insights
Driver prefers the meter to be outside as it makes passengers feel that driver cannot tamper with it.
New drivers cannot take people to places that they don’t know of.
The owner is mainly concerned about the usage of fuel and distance travelled

And
Rajesh, 30, In Mumbai with Family. 10Years in this business


Top Insights
Considering Bombay city meter usage is more appropriate in case of traffic, diversions & delays rather that prefixed fares.
Accounting is done is various ways like filling-up the fuel to ¾ the capacity

Team Two:
This was our first contextual so we were nervous as to how to go about doing it. The focus was to interview a taxi driver in the fort area, which is central Bombay. On reaching the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus we decided that we would target taxis coming out of the station. To add to it once we reached there it started raining heavily and hence we decided of boarding a taxi to some place and start the interview in the taxi.

Top Insights
Lack of employment is compulsion for taking-up this profession
Passengers demand entertainment on long journeys

1.JPG

1.JPG, originally uploaded by fourfirefoxes.

Hello all, this blog is a post of the happenings at the HCI course at

IDC, IIT Bombay.



Prof. Anirudha Joshi takes this course presently as an elective for

the VC2004 batch.

Course participants are Mooshir, Shahid, Uttran, Susheel, Saikat,

Vimal and John.